09/21/2012

Are Ethics Courses Failing to Produce Ethical Business People?

What is the Goal of Business Ethics Education?

As a professor who teaches ethics
routinely in my Accounting classes, I was intrigued to read an article by Ray
Fisman, a professor at Columbia Business School, and Adam Galinsky, a professor
at Northwestern University, about why ethics courses fall short in
business schools. My first reaction was it is no surprise to me. The purpose of
teaching ethics to college students is not to make it less likely they will
commit fraud or go along with it during their business careers. There is no way
to guarantee that will happen or even expect the goal to be achieved. A more
realistic purpose is to get students to develop and act on a set of values that
enable them to speak out when wrongdoing exists so it doesn't go that far. There is a college curriculum
that approaches the teaching of ethics in that way. It’s called Giving Voice to Values. The approach was
developed by Mary Gentile.

Gentile
is a Babson College educator and consultant who draws on her business
experiences to challenge the conventional notion of business ethics at companies
and as taught in business schools. Dr. Gentile uses stories about the
actions of exemplars to illustrate the kinds of values that enhance ethical
behavior. Her goal is to help young people who want to stand up for their
values when confronted with pressure imposed by a boss, customers, peers or
shareholders to do the opposite.

I
have found in my own teaching that students and young employees need a frame of
reference to help make ethical decisions when faced with pressures to do
otherwise. I emphasize that once you deviate from your values, it's just a
small step down the proverbially ethical slippery slope and it becomes very
difficult to regain the high ground later on if (and when) you realize your
mistake of going along with or sanctioning wrongdoing in the first place.

Gentile’s
approach is a good one because most college students know the right thing to do
but have a difficult time doing it – expressing their thoughts and feelings --
because of their personal and organizational purposes are not aligned and
pressures exist to deviate from ethical decision-making. Gentile starts with
the premise that students do know the right thing to do but have trouble voicing
their values. It’s one thing to say “I can’t go along with financial fraud”. It’s
another to do something positive to prevent it from happening when your boss is
pressuring you to do otherwise. In other words, to do something to voice your
values in a way that changes behavior.

A
useful approach to teaching business ethics is to help students identify the enablers
and disablers of action. I ask students to think about the
factors that would encourage them to take action on their values as well as
those that discourage them. The goal is to develop a strategy to strengthen the
enablers and counteract the disablers. Pressures such as a threatened job loss
might lead to silence whereas a strong set of core values (i.e. integrity)
should motivate students to speak up and use the enablers by taking the matter
to higher-ups in the organization, assuming the CFO persists.

I have found that a useful
perspective is to ask students to think about what might happen in the future
if they go along with the CFO; use a long-term perspective in voicing values
rather than focus on short-term gains. Some understand right away that they might
be expected to go along with financial wrongdoing again in the future. Some
realize top management can play the “gotcha” game down the road if, all of a
sudden, they decide to act on their values but management reminds them of their
past acceptance.

The bottom line is there is no way
of knowing whether business ethics education has made a difference. A graduate
of a prestigious school might commit fraud in the future, but it doesn’t mean
business ethics has failed them or even all students. Organizational pressures
and the culture of a firm can create barriers to ethical behavior. The key is
to find a way to work through the obstacles and voice your values.

I’m
asked all the time why I teach ethics and am challenged whether it is even
possible to change one’s ethics by a college course. After all, some argue,
ethics is formed at a very early age. I don’t dispute that but do point out
that my goal is to get students to reflect on their actions in a safe setting
so they can better develop the tools to deal with ethical challenges in the
workplace. I am not a guarantor of ethical action.

Teaching
ethics should not rely on having one college course in business ethics and that
is it. I see the failure of business ethics education to be one of not
integrating ethics into each course and each decision in business. When
colleges rely on one course to teach ethics, they are not sending the message
that ethics counts. If they cover it in
all courses and in the context of functional courses, then they send a
completely opposite signal that it is an important part of every business
decision.

I
can teach business ethics – I know it from past experiences including grading
papers, exams, and student presentations and papers on the topics. What I don’t
know is whether students will really learn the lesson. Similarly, I can teach
Intermediate Accounting to my students but I don’t know if they have truly
learned the material and will be successful on the CPA Exam or in their
accounting careers.

There
is old African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child”. It is quite
appropriate to say that it takes an organization to raise an ethical employee.

Comments

Are Ethics Courses Failing to Produce Ethical Business People?

What is the Goal of Business Ethics Education?

As a professor who teaches ethics
routinely in my Accounting classes, I was intrigued to read an article by Ray
Fisman, a professor at Columbia Business School, and Adam Galinsky, a professor
at Northwestern University, about why ethics courses fall short in
business schools. My first reaction was it is no surprise to me. The purpose of
teaching ethics to college students is not to make it less likely they will
commit fraud or go along with it during their business careers. There is no way
to guarantee that will happen or even expect the goal to be achieved. A more
realistic purpose is to get students to develop and act on a set of values that
enable them to speak out when wrongdoing exists so it doesn't go that far. There is a college curriculum
that approaches the teaching of ethics in that way. It’s called Giving Voice to Values. The approach was
developed by Mary Gentile.

Gentile
is a Babson College educator and consultant who draws on her business
experiences to challenge the conventional notion of business ethics at companies
and as taught in business schools. Dr. Gentile uses stories about the
actions of exemplars to illustrate the kinds of values that enhance ethical
behavior. Her goal is to help young people who want to stand up for their
values when confronted with pressure imposed by a boss, customers, peers or
shareholders to do the opposite.

I
have found in my own teaching that students and young employees need a frame of
reference to help make ethical decisions when faced with pressures to do
otherwise. I emphasize that once you deviate from your values, it's just a
small step down the proverbially ethical slippery slope and it becomes very
difficult to regain the high ground later on if (and when) you realize your
mistake of going along with or sanctioning wrongdoing in the first place.

Gentile’s
approach is a good one because most college students know the right thing to do
but have a difficult time doing it – expressing their thoughts and feelings --
because of their personal and organizational purposes are not aligned and
pressures exist to deviate from ethical decision-making. Gentile starts with
the premise that students do know the right thing to do but have trouble voicing
their values. It’s one thing to say “I can’t go along with financial fraud”. It’s
another to do something positive to prevent it from happening when your boss is
pressuring you to do otherwise. In other words, to do something to voice your
values in a way that changes behavior.

A
useful approach to teaching business ethics is to help students identify the enablers
and disablers of action. I ask students to think about the
factors that would encourage them to take action on their values as well as
those that discourage them. The goal is to develop a strategy to strengthen the
enablers and counteract the disablers. Pressures such as a threatened job loss
might lead to silence whereas a strong set of core values (i.e. integrity)
should motivate students to speak up and use the enablers by taking the matter
to higher-ups in the organization, assuming the CFO persists.

I have found that a useful
perspective is to ask students to think about what might happen in the future
if they go along with the CFO; use a long-term perspective in voicing values
rather than focus on short-term gains. Some understand right away that they might
be expected to go along with financial wrongdoing again in the future. Some
realize top management can play the “gotcha” game down the road if, all of a
sudden, they decide to act on their values but management reminds them of their
past acceptance.

The bottom line is there is no way
of knowing whether business ethics education has made a difference. A graduate
of a prestigious school might commit fraud in the future, but it doesn’t mean
business ethics has failed them or even all students. Organizational pressures
and the culture of a firm can create barriers to ethical behavior. The key is
to find a way to work through the obstacles and voice your values.

I’m
asked all the time why I teach ethics and am challenged whether it is even
possible to change one’s ethics by a college course. After all, some argue,
ethics is formed at a very early age. I don’t dispute that but do point out
that my goal is to get students to reflect on their actions in a safe setting
so they can better develop the tools to deal with ethical challenges in the
workplace. I am not a guarantor of ethical action.

Teaching
ethics should not rely on having one college course in business ethics and that
is it. I see the failure of business ethics education to be one of not
integrating ethics into each course and each decision in business. When
colleges rely on one course to teach ethics, they are not sending the message
that ethics counts. If they cover it in
all courses and in the context of functional courses, then they send a
completely opposite signal that it is an important part of every business
decision.

I
can teach business ethics – I know it from past experiences including grading
papers, exams, and student presentations and papers on the topics. What I don’t
know is whether students will really learn the lesson. Similarly, I can teach
Intermediate Accounting to my students but I don’t know if they have truly
learned the material and will be successful on the CPA Exam or in their
accounting careers.

There
is old African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child”. It is quite
appropriate to say that it takes an organization to raise an ethical employee.